For many years lace tied shoes have been in use wherein the shoe is secured to the foot with laces running criss-cross along the top portion of the shoe. The laces must be tied in order to secure the shoe to the foot and untied to remove the shoe.
The most common method for tying shoelaces is the bowtie knot. The bowtie knot, however, will frequently become undone while the individual is engaged in everyday activities. Most people tie an additional overhand knot to the bowtie knot which is commonly known as a "double knot" in order to achieve a secure knot. Unfortunately, this particular knot is very difficult to untie and occasionally the laces must be cut, or a sharp object must be inserted between the laces to pry the laces free from each other.
There are other types of knots that are more suitable for tying two pieces of string together but are seldom used because of the time involved to learn and practice them.
Children frequently have trouble tying shoelaces correctly. Often the laces that they tie become undone by themselves while playing and must be retied, but usually not until they have been tripped over and injury has occurred. The elderly also have trouble tying a secure knot in shoelaces. To bend down and tie a secure knot in a shoelace with lower back problems and/or arthritis can be difficult, if not impossible. Often the knot they do manage to tie in a shoelace becomes undone, offering the opportunity to trip over the shoelaces and incur injuries.
Athletes, such as long distance runners, hockey players, and cyclists have their sports footwear on for extended periods of time. Their feet swell up and become uncomfortable due to excess blood pressure and perspiration in and around their feet. These athletes need to quickly readjust the laces on their shoes in order to relieve the pressure on their feet, an inconvenience for athletes during competition because of the time involved to untie and tie secure knots.
Another problem associated with secure knots is that after an activity the individual wearer is tired and would like to easily remove his shoes. Often, shoelaces become tangled and are not easily undone. Additionally, ordinary shoelaces hang over the sides of the shoes and can easily get caught or wrapped around something, i.e. a bicycle pedal, after they have been tied.
As an alternative to shoe laces the prior art has attempted to use a plurality of straps with hook and loop fasteners instead of laces. The use of hook and loop fastener secured straps makes shoes easier to remove but does not provide the strength under load to keep a shoe secure where, for example, a bicyclist sprints or an athlete "cuts" planting a foot to change direction. Under these circumstances the typical hook and loop fastener secured straps release prematurely. Therefore, the use of laces has certain advantageous.
The shoe securement apparatus of the present invention overcomes these disadvantages of ordinary shoelaces and other quick fastening apparatus on sports footwear, sneakers, and shoes of all types, in that the shoe is securely fastened without the use of knots and will not come undone while in use, but yet is easily removable.